Claire Hill left the practice of law for the academic world so she could focus on studying legal issues. Her research on corporate governance helped underpin the new book “Better Bankers, Better Banks,” which she wrote with another University of Minnesota law professor, Richard Painter.

What’s the biggest turning point in your career and how did that lead you to what you are doing today?

When I was a practicing lawyer, I gradually realized that I wanted to explore issues, sometimes in depth, rather than just focusing on what the client wanted and quickly moving on. I also became interested in how people learned to draft and negotiate contracts, something I felt that law school had not prepared me sufficiently well for — and something that I wanted to change for future law students.

What are your job responsibilities today?

My main responsibilities are teaching and research. I teach business associations/corporations, and mergers and acquisitions. In both courses, I try to meld theory and practice. I want the students to learn not just what the law says, but also why it says what it says. I also teach a seminar in law and economics. Students get to read, hear and critique senior scholars’ papers. The scholars often tell me they get better comments from my students than they do from their peers. Research takes about half of my time. The topics I am researching and writing about include banker responsibility, investor decision-making, risk management, and the intersection of corporate social responsibility and profit maximization. Finally, I also bring in speakers and host events.

What’s your proudest community achievement?

Bringing in fascinating speakers to the law school for lectures open to the public. The speakers have included important figures in law, such as Judge Jed Rakoff, but also public intellectuals in other fields, such as Jonathan Haidt and Tyler Cowen. During the talks and at the after-talk receptions, I feel as though connections are being made, and ideas are being hatched.

What’s the best advice you received from a mentor, and what’s your best advice to women entering your field?

Before I started teaching I was somewhat afraid of public speaking. My sister’s advice was “I’ve never known of anyone who went into teaching who didn’t get over stage fright very quickly.” I quickly found that rather than being scary, teaching is really fun as well as, of course, very rewarding.
The advice I would give — to women, but really, to any student — is to try your hardest to discover where your strengths, interests and passions lie; they may not lie where you think.